1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel and highly advantageous sparteine derivative and more particularly to 17S,17'S-bissparteine, to a process of producing said compound, to pharmaceutical compositions containing same, and to a method of using said compositions in the treatment of arrhythmias.
2. The Prior Art
It is known that sparteine and the 17-alkyl derivatives of sparteine are characterized and distinguished by their valuable pharmacological properties and more particularly by their anti-arrhythmic activity (German Published Application No. 23 60 475; European Patent Application No. 79 103 315.2).
It has proved to be of advantage that an anti-arrhythmic drug exhibits a considerable therapeutic range of activity, i.e. that its therapeutic index or the ratio between its toxic dose and its therapeutically effective dose is as great as possible. Furthermore, it is also advantageous if an anti-arrhythmic drug exerts its activity for a prolonged period of time even on peroral administration.
The known sparteine compounds, however, have the disadvantage that they have only a relatively low anti-arrhythmic activity or that their anti-arrhythmic effect is only of short duration when they are administered perorally. Thus there is a great demand for anti-arrhythmic agents having the basic sparteine ring structure, but with considerably improved pharmacological properties.